


The Future Is Behind Us Now

by stellacadente



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic
Genre: F/M, Just A Dream, Knights of the Eternal Throne Spoilers, Knights of the Fallen Empire Spoilers, KotFE-KotET alternate universe, What if none of this happened, and new warzones, and some new class stories, and we just got new operations, anti-angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-09
Updated: 2017-02-09
Packaged: 2018-09-23 03:09:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9638399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stellacadente/pseuds/stellacadente
Summary: Thank the Maker! It was all a dream!





	

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers for Knights of the Fallen Empire, Knights of the Eternal Throne and War on Iokath (exp. 5.2)

_“My lord …”_

Xhareen could still hear Quinn’s voice as though he were standing right next to her. If only he were by her side now. If only she knew where he was.

Everything was falling apart. The Alliance – her Alliance – was fragmenting under pressure from both the Empire and the Republic. She and her people – her people – had beaten Valkorion. Arcann and Vaylin were in treatment in an undisclosed location under the watchful eye of their mother, Senya. Zakuul was free of tyrannical rule and on its way to self-sustenance.

But trust had been so hard to maintain. Empress Acina did her best, but too many Sith lords refused to believe the Wrath would settle with a few planets on the far side of the galaxy. And despite the support of Jace Malcom, the Senate demanded a full accounting of every ship, every trooper, every tax-paying business owner and every criminal who had defected to the Alliance. Xhareen knew it wouldn’t be long before they would demand repayment from the remnants of the Vandin job.

_“My love …”_

All of this would have been easier with Quinn by her side. Giving her guidance, fixing her broken armor, making sure she ate and stayed hydrated. If only she knew where he was. Balls, she was hungry right now.

She wanted to retreat, to claim the small gathering of planets in Wild Space that fed Zakuul before Valkorion sent his twin sons to bother the rest of the galaxy. To just be done with it all. She wanted to recall the Eternal Fleet from its missions of mercy, to use it as a barrier and a wall to keep the fractious Empire and Republic out. Let them kill each other. Everyone she knew was safe.

Everyone but Quinn. She had a sickening feeling he’d been on Dromund Kaas when she was there, but was hiding from her. Afraid of her. Acina had claimed no knowledge of his whereabouts, or that of his family.

She had a sickening feeling it was all about him, all along. That’s when the bombs began raining down.

_“Xhareen …”_

The ground beneath her feet began to shake. The world was coming apart, just like Makeb. She was cold, just like Ilum. Wet, like Rishi. Even wetter, like Yavin.

Now she was choking on dust. She didn’t even know where she was. Or why.

Quinn was standing in front of her. Begging her for forgiveness. “You’ve fallen out of love with me, haven’t you?” His blue eyes were rimmed with red. “You’ve never forgiven me for my betrayal, have you?” A tear rolled down his reddened cheek. “I never expected you to wait for me.” He fell to his knees and sobbed. “Take my life if you must. End my suffering.”

She could hear everyone around her. She was rising into the air. Maybe she would float away, and land wherever Quinn was hiding.

_“Get her into the shuttle, now. We’ve got a medbay prepared for her on the orbital station.”_

She floated. It felt like forever. Like six years, eight months and 12 days.

=====

She woke up in a strange medbay. He was there. Vette was there. Jaesa and Pierce and Lana and Theron. Even Broonmark and Treek.

Her strange little family.

“Quinn, I missed you so much. How long have you been away?”

He shook his head. “I’m sorry, my love, I don’t know what you mean. I’ve been by your side this whole time.”

Lana moved toward the bed. “My lord, you did it. Vitiate is defeated.”

“I know. I threw him off the throne myself. With Senya, Vaylin and Arcann’s help. Old news.”

Quinn took her hand and squeezed it. “Minister Beniko, I’m not sure she is quite herself yet.”

Xhareen sat up. “Everyone, stop looking at me like that. I defeated Valkorion and now the galaxy is falling apart. They bombed Zakuul …”

Quinn cleared his throat. “Darling, we’re orbiting above Ziost.”

A dark chill started in her chest and spread throughout her body. “Why? It’s dead. Vitiate sucked the life out of it. Years ago. Six years, eight months …”

“No, my lord,” Lana interrupted. “You prevented it. He had taken over the body of an Imperial general and was trying to escape the planet, but you defeated him. There was a blinding purple light and it just went out. I felt him die. I felt hope return.”

 _That cannot be._ “What about Senya and her children? They helped me defeat him in my head, in that horrible, gray void. I kept falling off the platforms, only to return to some new horror he presented. But we stopped him eventually. They stopped him.”

“You must mean Col. Tirall and her family,” Quinn said. “They are a storied Imperial military family. They held the line until you prevailed. It was an epic battle. I’m sure people will be talking about this for decades to come.”

Xhareen grabbed her head and began to pull her hair. “No! That’s not what happened. Darth Marr was killed, I was put in carbonite. The Eternal Fleet took over the Republic and the Empire and …”

Quinn took her hands from her head and into his. “Everyone, please, can we have the room?” he pleaded.

When they had gone, Quinn explained that they had chased Vitiate first into the power grid around New Adasta, then into the converters of the People’s Tower, when General Valkorion Bhowlard emerged, glowing with Force energy and flanked by two horrific monsters created with Sith alchemy.

Xhareen led a small strike force and defeated him and the monsters, but when Bhowlard fell, so did she. Quinn had tried to rouse her, but had her evacuated to the orbital station where more experienced physicians could treat her.

It had only been 27 hours.

She laid back on the bed, and explained to him everything she thought she’d been through. Losing him, looking for him, Odessen, Zakuul, SCORPIO, fighting to save the galaxy, leaving the Empire that had rejected her …

“No, my love. None of that happened. There’s no record of any probes we’ve sent to Wild Space ever finding any inhabited worlds.”

“Malavai, you’re telling me that was all just a dream?”

“Yes, my love, it appears that it was.”

She sat back up. “Oh thank the Maker! Now, what does a woman have to do to get some food around here?”


End file.
